Posted on 09/11/2007 7:18:21 PM PDT by blam
US confirms Israeli air strike on Syria
By Tim Butcher in Tel Aviv
Last Updated: 2:26am BST 12/09/2007
A US official has confirmed that Israeli warplanes carried out an air strike "deep inside" Syria, escalating tensions between the two countries.
The target of the strike last Thursday remained unclear but Israeli media reported that a shipment of Iranian arms crossing Syria for use by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon was attacked.
Israeli army Merkeva tanks on the Golan Heights
Syria first reported the incident on the day, saying its air defences had engaged five Israeli planes, but did not say what their target was. Israel remained uncharacteristically silent, pointedly refusing to deny that its warplanes were involved in an operation. The closest it came to acknowledging the affair happened was when it made an undertaking to Turkey to investigate how an Israeli long-range fuel tank was dropped on Turkish territory near the Syrian border.
Another theory gaining ground yesterday was that Israel was deliberately attacking the Russian-made Pantsyr air defence system recently bought by Damascus. The sale includes provision for the Pantsyr system to be shipped on to Iran and it is possible the Israeli attack was co-ordinated with America to probe the effectiveness of the system. It is believed that Iran would use the Pantsyr system to defend its nuclear facilities.
Syria has sought to keep the incident in the public arena, saying yesterday that it had complained formally to the United Nations, accusing Israel of unjustified aggression.
Syria and Israel have fought major wars on three occasions, in 1948, 1967 and 1973, as well as numerous other skirmishes. The two nations remain formally at war although an uneasy calm has largely held for the past three decades. Meanwhile, Israel was contemplating a retaliatory strike on Gaza last night after a Palestinian qassam rocket injured 69 of its soldiers, five seriously, at the Zikim army base. Many of the Israelis were hit by shrapnel as they slept under canvas.
While the rocket was fired by members of the Islamic Jihad party, Israel said it would hold Hamas accountable because the group is the main authority in the Gaza strip since it drove out its Fatah rivals in June.
The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, convened an emergency meeting yesterday with military and security commanders to discuss a response to the attack.
Then use the HARMs on the things that can reach a BUFF, then send in the BUFFs to deal with the SA-22 systems.
Isreal and USA will be blamed for anything, anytime, no matter the proof or situation.
Might as well go b%lls to the wall and and worry about PR when the smoke clears...my .02...
G3: I like yer .02 and I tend to think like that. Still, there is still the good ol’ US of A, Israel’s best friend among the nations and maybe one or two other countries that matter that shouldn’t be alienated if it can be helped.
I agree to the extent that weve tried to be ‘diplomatic’ in all phases of this conflict. But, enough is too much, at this point Id rather see the fight get done. Bullies are like rabid dogs, the ONLY thing that matters is destroying them. Any dogs that find a cure for their disease short of death can get to work cleaning up the mess. No different than what we did to/for Germans and Japan once upon a time...
Thanks for the write up.
I actually think that the Pantsyr actually has a pretty good ammunition capacity. For comparison the British Marksman (SPAAG only) carries 400 35mm rounds. The Avenger carries 8 Stingers (much shorter range)and a modified M2 with The more famous Gepard only carries 320 rounds, and there’s been talk of adding short range SAMs too. Now, the 35mm is probably more effective (the Russians went to 30mm because it was better than 23mm), but I wouldn’t call the Pantsyr lightly loaded for its job.
It’s kind of hard to compare with western systems given that I think most western countries have adopted the U.S. doctrine of air superiority through the air force—see the Avenger which I see as only being effective against helos.
Oh well, I was incoherent above, but I’m hoping people can piece it together.
Does anyone think that maybe Israel attacked the S-300s Syria’s supposed to have instead of the shorter range Pantsyrs? IMHO, the S-300s present a much greater threat to Israel’s dominance of the air than do the Pantsyrs.
I'm not sayin' I toldja so, I'm just sayin'. Way Cool, Israel.
Thanks for the ping, I hadnt gotten round to reading that article yet. seems that the MSM is avoiding this story like the plague[holding breath]. We’ll have to wait & see if the blame USA/Isreal crowd in this country spins it as our provocation, or coverup, or both. in 3...2...1...
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